What is Tommy Hilfiger’s Net Worth?

Tommy Hilfiger, an American fashion designer, has a net worth of $450 million. He began his career at age 18 by customizing jeans to resell in a local store. He opened his own store, The People’s Place, and in 1985 founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation with the help of the Murjani Group.

Despite being a successful fashion designer, Hilfiger is not a multi-billionaire because he sold the majority of his company to investors Silas Chou and Lawrence Stroll in 1989. Chou and Stroll are currently worth $2.7 billion each.

Hilfiger has won several awards for his fashion design and charity work, including Menswear Designer of the Year from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1995.

Early Life of Tommy Hilfiger

Tommy Hilfiger was born in Elmira, New York in 1951. He grew up in a large family and was raised in a Catholic household. His parents taught him important values such as compassion and hard work. Hilfiger showed an interest in fashion, sports, and the music business during his youth. He earned his high school diploma at the Elmira Free Academy and briefly attended the Greater Southern Tier BOCES Bush Campus.

Tommy Hilfiger’s Journey to Success

In 1969, Hilfiger worked in a Cape Cod clothing store and later opened a clothing store called People’s Place in Elmira with just $150. After the chain went bankrupt in 1977, he took business courses and worked for different fashion labels before starting Tommy Hill in 1979. He founded 20th Century Survival and Click Point before establishing the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation in 1985. The brand was introduced with a bold marketing campaign, including a billboard in Times Square.

Tommy Hilfiger’s Rise to International Fashion Phenomenon

In 1989, investors Lawrence Stroll and Silas Chou acquired the majority of the Tommy Hilfiger brand. Over the next 20 years, they turned it into an international phenomenon, with the signature menswear line debuting in 1992 and the company beginning to sell women’s clothing in 1996. By 1997, they had opened a Beverly Hills store and went on to open over 1,400 stores globally.

The company’s revenues topped $1.9 billion in the early 2000s, and in 2006, it was sold to Apax Partners for $1.6 billion. In 2010, Apax sold the company to Phillips-Van Heusen for $3 billion.

Tommy Hilfiger has also combined his fashion career with his love of music, sponsoring music events such as Lenny Kravitz’s “Freedom” tour and Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy” tour. He has published 7 books, including “All-American” (1997) and “American Dreamer: My Life in Fashion & Business” (2016). He also appeared as himself in movies like “Zoolander” (2001) and “Zoolander 2” (2016).

Tommy Hilfiger’s Philanthropic Contributions

In 1995, Tommy Hilfiger founded The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation, which supported charities dedicated to helping at-risk youth in America. He has also supported organizations such as LIFEbeat, Autism Speaks, and the MLK, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation.

Tommy has served on The Fresh Air Fund’s board of directors and has been designing limited-edition handbags for Breast Health International since 2008, donating a portion of the proceeds to the charity’s Fund for Living program.

Tommy is a Millennium Promise MDG Global Leader and has donated millions of dollars to their mission of fighting hunger and extreme poverty. In 2012, The Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation’s philanthropic arm was renamed “Tommy Cares” and has supported Save the Children, War Child, the World Wildlife Fund, and other charitable organizations.

Tommy joined the board of Autism Speaks in 2012, a role that led to his sponsorship of the 2014 Golden Door Film Festival.

Tommy Hilfiger’s Marriages and Children

Tommy Hilfiger married Susan Cirona in 1980 after meeting her when she worked at his People’s Place store in Ithaca in 1976. The couple had four children together, Ally, Richard, Elizabeth, and Kathleen, before divorcing in 2000.

In December 2008, Hilfiger married Dee Ocleppo, and they welcomed a son, Sebastian, in 2009.

Awards and Honors

Tommmy Hilfiger has received numerous awards for his contributions to the fashion industry. He won the Parsons School of Design’s Designer of the Year Award in 1998 and was named “GQ” magazine’s Designer of the Year in their 1998 “Men of the Year” issue. In 2009, he received “Marie Claire” magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2012, he was awarded the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award.

Tommy has also been recognized for his charitable work and received the Harvard Foundation’s Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian of the Year award in 2006. He was honored with the We Are Family Foundation’s Visionary Award in the same year and received the UNESCO Support Award in 2009.

Tommy Hilfiger’s Real Estate Ventures

In 2008, Hilfiger paid $25.5 million for a penthouse in New York City’s Plaza Hotel. In 2019, after 11 years on the market, he finally sold the property for $33.25 million.

In 2013, Tommy bought a 14,000 square foot Miami mansion for $17.25. In May 2021 he sold this home to investor Grant Cardone for $28 million.

In 2016 Tommy paid $35 million for a mansion in Palm Beach. He sold this mansion in 2018 for $35 million. In March 2020 Tommy bought a more modest $9 million mansion in Palm Beach which serves as his primary residence currently.

During his marriage to first wife Susan, the Hilfiger family lived in a large mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. In 2010, Tommy and his second wife paid around $31.4 million for a mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut. The property sold in January 2021 for $45 million.

In December 2021 Tommy paid $31 million for a 7,000 square-foot, ski-in, ski-out mansion in Aspen, Colorado. He sold this home just THREE MONTHS later for $50 million!

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